[Advaita-l] Fwd: What is 'aprAkRta' ?

[Bhaskar YR]

praNAms 
Hare Krishna

RV prabhuji :

It is vishishtopadhi as Sankara clarfies in the case of Ishvara, which
reveals rather than cover or erroneously project. 

bhaskar :

Kindly clarify where exactly shankara says Ishwara's is vishishtOpAdhi 
unlike jeeva's sAmAnyOpAdhi.  From the siddhAnta drushti, brahman is 
nirAkAra, nirguNa, nirvishesha and I dont think shankara compromises this 
position of shruti anywhere.  In the ArambhAdhikaraNa sUtra bhAshya 
shankara makes it very clear that the lordship of the lord, his 
sarvajnatva, sarvashaktitva etc. are only relative to the limitation 
caused by the conditioning of adjuncts of the nature of avidyA.  Atman is 
ultimately nirguNa, niravayava and in reality Atman is divested of all 
conditioning factors and on the dawn of jnAna, there cannot be any room 
for conception like the ruler and the ruled, sarvajnatva etc. However, I 
do agree that shankara while talking about upAsana, krama mukti etc. does 
agree that Ishwara has the special ability to create and jeeva in 
hiraNyagarbha lOka never matches the qualities of Ishwara in this respect.

RV prabhuji : 

Brahman is like a featureless sleeping snake (nirguna brahman)which when 
it dances (saguna brahman or adi karta narayayna) produces ghost images 
(pancha bautika loka) through the instrument of maya.

bhaskar :

I think paramahaMsa rAmakrishna also gives this example to show 
shiva-shakti abedha.  I do agree that when it comes to the 'reality' of 
srushti, the srushtikarta is nothing but that omnipotent and omniscient 
Ishwara.  shankara too acknowledges this in the very second sUtra of 
brahma sUtra.  And elsewhere shankara talks about the 'exclusive 
attributes' of the brahman since mundaka shruti says this brahman is 
sarvajnaH, sarvavit etc.  But, again, all these points donot prove that 
brahman is even in the paramArthika sense vishishtOpAdhika Ishwara. 
sOpAdhika brahma is meant only for meditation and saguNOpAsana.  And for 
the enquiry & realization it would be shruti-s ultimatum i.e. nirguNa, 
nirAkAra, nirupAdhika, nirvishesha parabrahman only.

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar